Y8 Boys Rugby @ Howden Rosslyn Park National Schools 7’s

Congratulations to the Year 8 lads who took their two-year unbeaten record for the school side to the prestigious event in London on Friday, to participate in the U13 Junior Festival and ended up with a playing record of two wins and three losses, overall.

The boys met after school on Thursday for an evening drive to the capital and, after an overnight stay, were placed in Group K of the competition against 4 other schools. We made an outstanding start with two wins from two against Dunottar School (25-20) and Bournemouth Collegiate School (35-5). These performances were a huge squad effort with the hard pitches causing several issues for players with the lads working really well as a side and continuing to hone their 7-a-side skills by keeping the ball alive and finding space and feeding our fast players to go across for several scores. Key scores from Sonny Mackie, Cian Doyle, Harry Crispin, J and Charlie Norman in these games along with the power from Max Hookway and Oliver Payne gave us several opportunities to be competitive throughout. Key contributions to the games with link plays and defensive work came from Ruben Tuley, Jack David, Leo Hoare, Jackson Gallagher, Oliver Marshall, Josh Farmer, Henry Taylor and Will Watkins, really underlining the collective effort and strength of the squad.

After placing ourselves at the top of the group, we faced Emirates Falcon International School from Dubai, also unbeaten. These were a very strong side, with physicality, skill, speed and organisation being like nothing else the lads have faced before. After falling to three early scores, the lads rallied to score twice before the break to rattle the opposition, however we suffered key injuries to try scorers Joe Gibson and Charlie Norman and we suffered after the break with several scores conceded to lost 10-40.

As the day wore on, the lads really had to dig deep in terms of energy stores and the penultimate game against Eltham College was tough with a 0-30 loss with us targeting a big last performance of the day against Aylesbury Grammar School. The lads certainly did not disappoint with a improved performance and gained an excellent score from Sonny Mackie in the corner which we much deserved, however ultimately a defeat of 5-35.

The competition was a culmination of the outstanding efforts and strengths that the boys have shown since starting with us in Year 7. Their attitude and respect of one another and others around them was outstanding both on and off the field and they were impeccable representatives of the College on the national stage.

A big thanks must go to Marc Dibble (Exeter Chiefs) for accompanying Mr Pearce on the trip and to the several parents who drove up and back on the day to the event to support, including Mrs Farmer for the photography.

This was really appreciated.

Congratulations to all of the squad.

Mr Pearce